Chapter 3: The Siege of Hogwarts
"Ah'm more use to ya here, anyway," said Hagrid.
Harry nodded
and then took a look around. His eyes stopped when he saw the tengu trip
Cho with a kick. Then the tengu began to raise his sword in preparation
for the killer blow. No, he thought. The tengu was totally out of
range of one of Harry's spells, so he picked up his broomstick and sped
as fast as he could towards them. In his right hand he held the wand and
pointed it towards the tengu. He searched his memory for a spell that would
work.
Cho looked up at the tengu. The tengu began his downward swing, and Cho immediately pulled a wand out of her robes and said, "Conjunctivitus." The curse shot out at the tengu's eyes and he reeled back in pain. He immediately closed his eyes, raised the sword, and swung downward this time. Cho rolled to her right and barely avoided the blade, then she delivered a blow to the creature's stomach with her left knee and then she lunged to slice him in the arm. The tengu, still with its eyes closed, blocked Cho's strike at the last instant.
Harry approached in the middle of the battle. To his relief, Cho was all right, though the tengu still appeared strong. He turned to see that some seventh years were joining in the battle with advanced magic attacking spells. Mad-Eye Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was turning ninjas into ferrets one by one and banging them against the ground. Dumbledore shot his wand out calmly and magical ropes shot out that tied up ninjas five at a time.
Hermione also appeared to feel relieved. Then she noticed something rising up into the sky: the Dark Mark. In a few minutes, she saw several hooded figures in approaching the school from the east.. She screamed, "Death Eaters!" She pointed in their direction when all the heads turned around in her direction.
"Everyone to the castle!" McGonagall yelled with a voice magically augmented.
The ninjas almost all appeared to be subdued. Many of them began to retreat slowly. Others, feeling dishonored at a sure defeat, killed themselves with their own swords.
The students were now running back into the castle as a mob. Most of them were panic-stricken. Some of the Slytherins hesitated as if they were thinking about helping the Death Eaters.
It suddenly dawned on Harry that the timing was too perfect for these two threats not to be working together. He flew over to Hagrid and helped him walk back quickly into the castle. He kept looking over his shoulder at Cho and the tengu, who appeared to have taken their fight up to the trees. Either she was being stubborn or the tengu wasn't letting her leave. It was probably the latter, Harry thought, because the tengu's back was towards the Hogwarts grounds. He brought Hagrid to the door and then turned around to watch. Hagrid started to tell him to get inside, but Madame Pomfrey had spotted Hagrid and had began escorting him inside.
"Harry, get in!" Harry heard Ron's voice and turned around. Ron grabbed his right arm and started pulling him with him.
"But Cho--" Harry began.
Ron looked around. Almost everybody was inside already. Hermione just caught up with them. Harry and Ron were now both staring back toward the forest.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked nervously. "Let's get in."
"Not without Cho. I have to make sure she's all right," Harry said solemnly.
Hermione sighed. "I think she wants to fight it by herself, Harry."
"He's not getting away if he kills her," Harry threatened. He started running back towards the forest.
"Harry, wait for me!" Ron shouted and he ran after him.
Hermione groaned, and then she went after the both of them.
They entered the forest and as soon as they had ran into the clearing a familiar voice stopped them. "What are you doing here?" Snape asked viciously.
"We were just going to check on Cho," Harry said impatiently.
"She doesn't need anyone to check on her," Snape said. "The tengu's sword just broke and he has just flown away in retreat. Get back to the castle," he snapped. They didn't move. "Now!"
They all began to turn away when they heard the familiar voice of Cho. "Please wait up," she called.
They turned around and saw her running towards them. They could see Snape behind her. He was slowly walking towards the castle. brought up the rear from behind them. Cho finally caught up to them.
"Snape told us that you beat him," Ron said.
"We came back for you," Harry said.
"Thanks," she said. "But how do we get back into the castle?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned around to see that the Death Eaters had made their way to the front of the castle. Several of them were chanting a spell together in front of the doors. Then arrows started raining down on the Death Eaters. Harry looked up to see that the arrows were being fired by bows that seemed to be moving themselves. Suddenly, the doors violently burst open and flew towards the chanting death eaters. They must have collectively used a strong retrieval spell. The Death Eaters strode into the castle one by one.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Snape had been walking while watching and were now almost at the middle of the grounds. Shortly after the Death Eaters had begun to enter the castle, they had begun to fly out one at a time. It was almost humorous. Snape had now run almost to the front of the castle and he was quickly tying up the unconscious Death Eaters with magical ropes from his wand. Harry and his friends had almost caught up with Snape when they saw that Moody and hundreds of students behind him wre standing just inside the front doors of Hogwarts firing spells with such speed and variety that it was like a fireworks show.
"I thought that we'd all be in more danger now that Voldemort has returned," Harry thought out loud.
"This is kind of pathetic," said Ron.
"But you were wonderful, Cho," said Harry.
Cho smiled at him. Hermione looked at Cho and asked her to join them for lunch.
"I'd love to," said Cho.
They watched the last of the Death Eaters fly out of the castle with a dozen hexes put on him, then they made their way to a spot outside of the front doors yet far away from the inside. They waited until the people inside recognized them.
"The Death Eaters are all apprehended," bellowed Mad-Eye Moody. "Nobody shoot! I repeat, nobody attack! Hogwarts students are coming in!" He looked around and saw that they all understood, though he suspected some Slytherin students might still fire from the balconies if they see that they can get a chance at Harry Potter.
Slowly, the students
crept into the castle. To their relief, nobody fired any spells in their
direction.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione found Ginny in the common room and then went down to meet Cho at the Great Hall. When they arrived, Cho was talking to Ravenclaws that Harry remembered meeting on the train. He recognized Carolyn Green, Lindsay McCourt, and Maggie Smith.
Cho saw them immediately and grinned. Harry's and Cho's friends introduced themselves to each other.
"Well I think it's fantastic what Cho did," Maggie said.
"It makes me so much more confident knowing that I've knocked out a few Death Eaters," said Carolyn with a smile.
"I guess your secret's out," said Harry to Cho.
"Unfortunately, that couldn't be helped," she responded quietly.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Ron asked.
"From my parents. My mother fought several tengus when she was young. Most of them are malicious, power-hungry creatures," Cho said.
"Where'd you acquired the sword?" Hermione asked.
"I bet she pulled it out of a hat?" Harry said before Cho could respond. Harry betted that the Sorting Hat had more surprises and that Cho was the heir of Ravenclaw, herself. How else could she have the sword if she wasn't the proper heir? It had been the same when he, the heir of Gryffindor, had pulled out the Godric's sword.
Cho looked at him with a somewhat shocked expression on her face. "Harry's right," she said finally.
Ron and Hermione exchanged knowing looks at the same time.
"Hey Harry," came a familiar voice from across the hall. I want to speak with you." Harry looked up to see that Draco Malfoy was motioning for him to approach a spot a little ways away from the Slytherin table. Harry said, "Excuse me please." He began to leave the table.
Hermione grabbed his arm. "No, Harry, ignore them."
Harry felt slightly uncomfortable in front of them. He thought for a bit, and then decided that he would rather take the bait than look like a coward in front of everybody. "I'll be fine," he said to Hermione with a smile.
She let go reluctantly and he left the table.
When Harry was close to the Slytherin table, Draco approached him. "What is it, Malfoy?" Harry asked coldly.
"Where did you go, Potter? Before you went to the castle?"
"None of your business."
"Causing trouble, were we? Or trying to be a hero again? What was it?"
"Like I said before, it's none of your business."
Draco started to respond when he was tapped lightly on the back. Draco felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around irritated. "What?"
He then saw Cho. She was smiling and hadn't flinched. "Hi, I'm Cho Chang. I don't believe we've met."
Draco just stared with mouth agape. Finally, he spoke. "I'm Draco Malfoy." He stretched out his hand and she shook it vigorously.
"Your father's name is Malfoy? There's a Lucius Malfoy on the Council in the Ministry of Magic."
"Yeah," Draco said. "Um, he's my father. I'm, um, really proud of him."
She nodded.
"You're the Ravenclaw seeker, right?"
She said yes.
"I'm the Slytherin seeker. They call me 'The Snake.'" Harry fought the urge to laugh out loud. He thought the thing for Cho to say would be, Good for you.
"That's cute," she said.
Draco looked appalled. Either he was too shocked with himself for his comment or he was too shocked with her response.
Then Cho looked at Harry. "Harry, do you want to come back to the table?"
"Sure," said Harry casually. Draco finally recovered.
"I'm joining you," Draco blurted out.
"Great," said Cho. She left to get a table, but Harry and Draco remained and watched her.
"No one calls you 'The Snake'," Harry said out of the corner of his mouth.
"Shut up, Potter," Draco responded. "No, I take that back. Tell me about her."
Harry shrugged. "She and I will soon be dating, and no she doesn't have a sister."
Draco hesitated for a second. "Well," he said with mock despair. "That's a shame."
"Thought you liked Hermione anyway," Harry said, and he arrived at the Gryffindor table with the last word. Cho was already seated. Draco sat to Harry's right, away from everybody else. Harry wasn't sure whether Draco would be an embarrassment to himself, belligerent, or tolerable.
By the end of lunch, Harry judged that Draco was tolerable. Draco was quiet, but he spoke when he was being spoken to. Throughout the meal, Ron obviously tried his best to control his temper every time Draco spoke. Hermione didn't pay much attention to him. Ginny cast a few nervous glances in his direction. Draco's elbows never touched the table. Harry realized that Draco must have made impeccable table manners a habit. Ironic, he thought, how some people can practice perfect etiquette and still be total bigots.
In the middle of lunch, a voice said, "Excuse me, Cho? Could I have a word with you?" They all looked up to see McGonagall looking down at them. She had a worried expression on her face and looked like her lip was trembling slightly.
"Of course," said Cho. She quietly excused herself and left.
"Hey did you hear?" They all looked up to see Fred and George Weasley approaching the table. Fred continued, "There was an attack at Hogsmeade this weekend and now some couple is in the hospital."
Harry connected
the two events. Cho's parents, he thought. Guilt and suffering suddenly
overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.
A/N: Now that you ask, I do have
a general plot structure written out, but it's constantly evolving. In
Chapter 4, we find out what happened in Hogsmeade, Cho reacts, and romantic
sparks fly.